Chilling air-traffic control audio has surfaced that captures the moment controllers urgently barked commands at a Spirit Airlines crew after their aircraft approached dangerously close to Air Force One.

The incident occurred earlier this week while Spirit Airlines Flight 1300 was en route from Florida to Massachusetts. At the same time, Air Force One — carrying the President and First Lady — was transiting U.S. airspace en route to the United Kingdom for a state visit.

Controllers monitoring the skies over New York recorded the Spirit Airbus A321 flying parallel to Air Force One at roughly eight miles’ separation. While the Federal Aviation Administration later emphasized that required separation standards were maintained, the proximity nonetheless triggered alarm among controllers and listeners to the radio exchange.

Audio released via the LiveATC service reveals the urgency in the controllers’ voices as they repeatedly gave precise course corrections. “Spirit 1300, turn 20 degrees right, IMMEDIATELY! … Pay attention! Get off the iPad!” a controller can be heard shouting, his voice tight with urgency.

One controller repeatedly called: “Spirit 1300, turn 20 degrees right. Pay attention, Spirit 1300, turn 20 degrees right, now. Spirit 1300, turn 20 degrees right, immediately.” Another controller added: “Pay attention. Spirit 1300 traffic off your left wing by six miles—uh, eight miles, 747. I’m sure you can see who it is… Keep an eye out for him — he’s white and blue.”

The exchange took a dramatic turn when the controller admonished the crew to focus — delivering the memorable line: “Pay attention. Get off the iPad.” Whether that rebuke was literal or rhetorical, the phrase underscored how exasperated controllers had become as they worked to preserve safe separation around the president’s aircraft.

In the background of the recording, the Spirit pilots’ acknowledgments can be heard faintly, though radio static obscures parts of their responses. Fortunately, the situation did not escalate further: Spirit later confirmed Flight 1300 landed uneventfully in Boston.

A Spirit Airlines spokesperson said the flight “followed procedures and Air Traffic Control instructions and landed uneventfully at BOS. Safety is always our top priority.” The FAA, in preliminary remarks, said its initial review indicated required separation was maintained despite the tense exchange on the frequency.

The recording has touched off debate online about possible cockpit distractions and crew situational awareness, with listeners fixating on the unorthodox admonition to put away an iPad. For many, the clip offered an unnerving glimpse of how tightly controllers monitor and manage airspace when the president’s aircraft is present.

President Trump and the First Lady later completed their flight and arrived in the UK on schedule. Still, the ATC audio — widely shared across social platforms — served as a reminder of how closely the nation’s air traffic system must be managed around high-profile flights, and how quickly routine monitoring can become an urgent safety intervention when separation margins tighten.

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US Air Force pilot reports close encounter with UFO in leaked air traffic control audio

Leaked air-traffic control audio has drawn attention after an Air Force pilot reported a close encounter with an unidentified flying object while operating a military mission in controlled airspace.

According to the audio obtained and released by news outlets, an experienced military pilot identified in transmissions as “Troy 21” was flying a Beechcraft 350 C on a mission near California on September 17 of last year when he reported that something passed directly beneath his wing. The incident, the pilot said, occurred at about 20,000 feet on a clear afternoon.

“This is going to sound weird, but I just had something pass underneath my wing,” the pilot told the controller. “Maybe a football-sized object right under my wing.”

An animation circulated online depicts a cylindrical object passing close to an aircraft wing. In the audio, the pilot elaborated: “It was like a dark gray cylindrical object and it was probably the size of a football and it passed maybe 10 feet under our right wing.” He told controllers his sensor operator was looking for the object on camera in real time.

Roughly two minutes later, the flight crew reported tracking the object about 60 miles away from their position. The controller queried whether it could have been a drone; the pilot replied he had no idea and that his onboard sensors were attempting to locate it.

A former FBI agent and UFO investigator who publicly commented on the leak noted that the military aircraft in question was equipped with a sensitive radar system used for surveillance and counter-narcotics work — equipment that could detect small contacts under certain conditions. That capability, the investigator suggested, lent weight to the pilot’s claim that something unusually small but detectable passed beneath the wing.

Observers have debated whether a hobbyist drone could reach such altitudes; the investigator argued this was unlikely, especially in controlled airspace where flights must be coordinated and cleared. He also noted that if the object was tracked by airborne radar across a 60-mile range in a short time, the implied speed would be extraordinary and would rule out conventional drone explanations in his view.

Officials have not confirmed the authenticity of the leaked audio or offered a definitive explanation for the object. Military and aviation specialists have pointed out that while civilian drones can reach higher altitudes, operational factors and regulations make such intrusions rare in controlled zones. The possibility of a misidentified conventional object or instrument anomaly also remains in play.

The leaked clip, whatever its ultimate provenance, has added fuel to ongoing public conversations about unidentified aerial phenomena, pilot reporting processes, and how military and civilian airspace authorities document and investigate unusual airborne contacts. Authorities have previously said that pilots should report sightings so that appropriate follow-up can occur; the recorded exchange shows that in this case the report prompted immediate attention from an ATC facility.

As investigators and analysts parse the audio and any corroborating sensor data, the debate is likely to continue about what the pilot actually encountered — whether a small man-made craft, a sensor artifact, or an object that defies easy classification. For now, the exchange stands as a notable, rare instance in which a military aviator publicly reported a close and startling encounter while operating in controlled airspace.